Robert Redford, the Sundance Institute and AEG Europe re-team to bring the festival back to London’s O2 Arena in April 2013 and again in 2014.

LONDON – Robert Redford, the Sundance Institute and AEG Europe said Monday that the Sundance London film and music festival would return to the British capital in 2013 and 2014.

The backers of the inaugural film and music event earlier this year said the festival would return to the O2 Arena on the banks of the river Thames in Southeast London.

Next year’s event will run April 25-28 and will once again aim to program the international and U.K. premieres of U.S. independent movies fresh from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, as well as live music performances, panels and events.

Organizers said the 2013 program aims to continue the 2012 focus on presenting “new work by American filmmakers and music artists.”

Sundance Institute will select the titles and related programming.

The inaugural Sundance London featured screenings of 27 films and performances by 17 musical acts. Highlights included the premiere of Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World, attended by Prince Charles, an intimate performance by Rufus and MarthaWainwright following the world premiere of Lian Lunson’s film about the music of their mother and an opening night event called An Evening With Robert Redford And T Bone Burnett.

Redford said: “The vibrant arts community in London has informed this decision [to bring back the festival] as much as anything. Seeing what comes of nurturing a broader global community for new voices and varied perspectives in American independent film and music seems a worthy 21st century endeavor.”

Interested in learning more about combining music and film at your festival? Join The Creative Coalition, SXSW, The Mountain Jam, D & E Entertainment and Van’s Warped Tour as they discuss the same topics during their panel, “The Best of Both Worlds: Combining Film & Music at your Festival” at the upcoming International Music Festival Conference in Austin, Texas at the Hyatt Regency Austin, December 2-4.

Over the years, A3C has not only become a staple in the hip-hop community, but a one-of-kind, interactive experience that helps further the culture on numerous levels. This year’s event was no different as the 8th installment of this Atlanta-based music festival was bigger than ever. The weekend provided unparalleled insight from industry insiders as well showcases full of future stars and current legends alike. Since we know not everyone could make the trip, here are ten of the most renown themes from the long and eventful weekend.

Supa Hot Beats Only Works With Supa Hot Artists – There was a stage during the closing ceremonies of the weekend that featured Tech N9ne, YelaWolf, Emilio Rojas, Rittz, Nikkaya, Gangsta Boo, Diamond, Will Brennan and Jackie Chain. When I walked up, I assumed the line-up was just well put together by hosts DJBooth and iHipHop. Then, an extremely grateful Will Power was brought to the forefront and I realized the high-octane set list was actually a showcase of artists he produces for. That’s also when I realized his Supa Hot brand of beats doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves.

Cell Phones Are An Essential Part Of Music (Whether You Like It Or Not) – Everyone knows cell-phones are permanent fixtures in today’s tech-savy society. But, until you go to an event like this, you don’t realize how much the actual music caters to them. Between seeing rappers in Stankonia studio writing and rapping directly from their palm, learning of a renown guitar-player that only uses his iPhone and seeing how crowds continuously prefer watching live shows they paid money to see from a small-screen, it’s glaringly apparent hand-held devices are overtaking even our most creative forums. Oh, and did I mention I paid five dollars for a 30% phone battery, three times? Damn you, Alexander Graham Bell!

Studio Time Is More Hanging Out Than Actually Recording – TSS was lucky enough to be able to go Outkast’s legendary studio and see The Flush facilitate the creation of Stankonia Sessions Volume 2. We learned quite a bit about the recording process, and well, how little recording actually takes place. In the three hours we spent, everyone in the room was mostly busy socializing and hanging out, rather than focusing on the music. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just something we didn’t expect. The atmosphere in there is a lot more casual than professional and it’s evident how easily good relationships can form through a little chatter in front of the mixing boards.

More Exposure Means More Hassle – While the 8th installment of A3C peaked this year in regard to talent and visibility, the growth made the festival quite a bit more difficult to navigate. Instead of all the action being located in one central hub, the event was sprawled throughout different venues across the city. While that expansion may have been necessary to accommodate all the acts, it made seeing everyone impossible and having a car completely necessary. Plus, who the hell decided to close the parking lot next to the Masquerade? Inviting the entire country to an event, then having everyone park in residential neighborhoods two blocks away is never cool.

It’s official. We’re having twins! The Austin City Limits Music Festival will bring dual weekends of music to Zilker Park in 2013. After many consecutive years of sell-out crowds, the festival is doubling down to accommodate more fans next October!

“Every year we hear from longtime fans that they’ve missed out on buying tickets because of the speed at which the festival sells out,” says Charlie Jones, partner at C3 Presents. “The expansion will allow more people the chance to experience ACL, and we are grateful to the fans, the neighborhood associations, KLRU, and the City of Austin for their continued support of the Festival.”

Although talent and scheduling details have yet to be nailed down, one thing is certain – having two back-to-back weekends of performances from the biggest names in music will create a week-long celebration that further solidifies Austin’s claim to the title of Live Music Capital of the World.

Two weekends will also mean a greater investment in Austin’s green spaces. Since 2006, the Festival has provided $6 million to Austin’s parks for improvements around the city. One of the most significant projects funded by the ACL Festival was the 2009 Zilker Park renovation, a rewarding endeavor with results that today benefit all who enjoy this beautiful Austin landmark.

After two successful years in Santiago, Lollapalooza Chile will return for a third edition in Parque O’Higgins on April 6-7 with Pearl Jam, The Black Keys, deadmau5, and Queens of The Stone Age leading the charge.

Also playing the South American festivals are A Perfect Circle, The Hives, Franz Ferdinand, Two Door Cinema Club, Hot Chip, Passion Pit, Crystal Castles, Kaiser Chiefs, Alabama Shakes, Puscifer, Toro Y Moi, and Gary Clark, Jr. Electronic heavyweights Kaskade, Steve Aoki, Knife Party, Major Lazer, and Porter Robinson will also take the stage, as will Hip Hop star Nas.

The festivals will share some bands, but not all. Lollapalooza Chile’s lineup will also feature Keane, Bad Brains, and Perrosky, as well as many Chilean bands, including Los Tres, Manuel Garcia, Gepe and Chancho en Piedra. In total, more than 60 bands will perform on six stages of non-stop music over the course of the two-day festival.

The Brasilian edition will add a third day, topping out with over 65 bands on five stages. The festival will also spotlight The Flaming Lips, Cake, Criolo + Emicida, Rusko, and Madeon along with Brasilian bands from every region including Vivendo do Ócio, Lirinha + Eddie, Felguk, Technostalgia feat. Dj Marky & BiD, Ludov,Baia, República and Graforréia.

Lollapalooza Chile will take place at Parque O’Higgins April 6-7. 2013. Two-day passes are currently on-sale at www.lollapaloozacl.com. For the latest information and announcements on Lollapalooza Chile, visit lollapaloozacl.com. Or, follow the festival on Facebook Twitter and YouTube.

It turns out that not even a completely vegetarian music festival is enough to reunite the Smiths.

By Anna Almendrala, First Posted on Huffington Post, October 1, 2012

In an interview with Australian newspaper the Herald Sun Thursday, Morrissey shared that organizers of the Southern California music festival Coachella offered him a “100-per-cent vegetarian event” if he would join forces with guitarist Johnny Marr and headline as the Smiths.

“Fascinatingly they made it clear that they would ‘not require’ the Smiths’ bass player or drummer,” said Morrissey about his estranged bandmembers, “which I thought certainly said something.”

When Morrissey performed at Coachella 2009, the outspoken vegetarian interrupted a set because he couldn’t bear the scent of “burning flesh.”

“I can smell burning flesh and I hope to God –I can smell burning flesh and I hope to God it’s human,” said Morrissey about the smell of barbecue in the air (video above).

The Huffington Post reached out to Coachella organizers for comment but have yet to receive a response.

It seems that Coachella has beent trying to reunite the band for some time. During a SXSW panel in 2006, Morrissey claimed event organizers offered him $5 million to perform with Marr at that year’s festival, reports music site Billboard.com.

In the wake of the A&R Worldwide/Chugg Entertainment partnership, and branching out into new genre territory with the announcement of bringing an new Dance music festival to Australia, Chugg today has more moving and shaking to announce.

The promoters for Homebake, IMC and Village Sounds, have today announced a new partnership with Chugg Entertainment that will make them co-promoters for the annual music festival

A press statement issued today said that the newly forged alliance “is effective immediately and will see this new configuration of Australian music industry stalwarts forge forward with the 2012 event, and then ongoing for years to come.”

Eradicating the world of extreme poverty isn’t a quick fix, but joining the fight for awareness only takes one click.

When Hugh Evans, CEO of the Global Poverty Project, brainstormed an altruistic music festival, he didn’t want it to be a typical benefit concert — he wanted to build a movement. He found the most effective way to do so was to create a “tool to amplify and unite a generation’s call for justice.”

Instead of purchasing regular tickets for the Sept. 29 event in Central Park, hopeful festival attendees had to earn at least three points by tweeting, posting on Facebook and getting involved with Global Poverty’s mission via other social means. Those actions automatically entered participants into a ticket lottery.

“If we did it through a regular ticketing scheme and just sold the tickets through Ticketmaster or something like that, that would be a relatively expensive ticket, and that would be the end of their engagement,” Evans said.

Simon Moss, COO of Global Poverty Project, said there are close to 70,000 active users with more than 3.5 million pageviews on the website, which launched less than a month ago.

“If we can use the power of the citizens who are attending it and their social networks and their friends’ and families’ social networks, we can urge governments to donate over $500 million to the world’s poor through this event, which is what we are on track to receive,” Evans said. “If we’re going to end extreme poverty for the 1.4 billion people on this planet, we can’t just be thinking of a traditional solution.”

Legally, Global Citizen could only give out 27,000 pairs of tickets, although more than 60,000 people entered the drawing to see Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Foo Fighters and The Black Keys perform.

Although all the tickets have been distributed, there are a limited number of VIP tickets available for purchase on the festival’s website, and there will be three different livestreams partnered through YouTube, Vevo, AOL, Yahoo, MTV, VH1, CMT and NYTimes.com on Sept. 29 and 30.

“Hundreds of millions of people will have the opportunity to participate, albeit through the digital sphere, in what is becoming a historic event,” Evans said. “I think we recognize that the digital world is increasingly the way all of us interact, and therefore, the underlying experience is as important to us as the event itself.”